Skyside 7: The Big Pizza in the Sky

[Ironsmith]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

"Am I interrupting?"

The question comes from a recent arrival, a man in black clergy robes and a raven-faced mask. The Guild would know him as Korvin, a member of the church of Astheneia, goddess of Pestilence and Punishment. His official rank within the church was "Witness"... which is to say, he didn't exactly have an official rank, but was considered somewhat important nevertheless for having been present at an event of divine significance at some point. He'd joined the Guild itself as a volunteer enforcer; apparently, his membership was part of some divine plan he refused to elaborate on, as "the time is not yet right". In the past few days, he's shown himself to be brutally efficient; he's tracked down no fewer than seven escaped slaves, all of them returned physically unharmed but mentally beyond repair, in the Guild's favor.

Korvin gives a little nod to the man at the door as he enters, not seeming to know or care that he hadn't been invited here.

Hana watches the deal take place, coughing violently from the throat blow, but otherwise watching the slavers with pure contempt. At least until they get to the part about the Hotbox.

"Oh, you idiots are going to need a lot more than just my memories." Hana growls. "Do either of you know how to maintain a matter synthesizer? I bet not. And even if you somehow could teach someone else to do it, it takes years of practice to do it safely. You'll go through technicians like copy paper without my help."

She was, of course, lying through the teeth. Maintaining a Hotbox was so easy five-year-olds could and would do it. But if mister Trust could lie that brazenly, so could she. Sort of. She was trained for it, at least.

[Earl of Purple]

The Trust-Worthy Hotel

Mister Trust is first to react to Korvin's entrance. "You are, slightly. We are just finishing up here. Whom are you here to see, myself or Master Alecto?" He's not sure why Korvin would have any business with him, but it would be exceptionally rude to interrupt if he were after the guest and it was not an emergency.

"Your memories will help us there, too. If there's any maintenance it requires regularly, you know how to do it. An interesting name for the device, though; 'matter synthesiser'. Have another bag." The woman tosses another bag to the fat man in the chair. She'll turn to the orcs. "Gag her and make her kneel. If she tries to disobey again, zap the rat."

The obese man will also lurch upwards, hauling his bulk from the armchair and stagger over. He stinks; too-strong perfume and a medicinal tang of menthol or something like it. His feet are pallid and swollen, the nails seem to have fallen out and it almost seems like the flesh is ready to peel from the bone, they've been soaking so long. In his hand, produced from... somewhere, it's not clear where exactly, are a pair of brass collars. He'll fasten one about the necks of the two slaves he's just bought, and then waddle over to Abbi and remove the one about her neck. Something odd happens in each case; he grabs the metal, and pulls- or pushes- it through the girl's neck. "There. My property is now marked as such, and yours is unmarked. I believe this is everything?"

[Ironsmith]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

"Neither." Korvin replies bluntly. "I'm here as a matter of curiosit- oh, come now, just what do you think you're doing?" He approaches the woman and lets out an exasperated sigh. "Is this how you've been keeping your slaves in line? Threats of beatings?" He shakes his head slowly, the sounds of his tongue tsking echoing through his mask. "Such a simple mistake. You've afforded them both something no slave should ever be allowed to have; power." He runs the back of his gloved hand along Abbi's cheek. "You bind them, and tell them you do not want them to run. You strike them, and tell them you do not want them to stand. You gag them, and tell them you do not want them to speak. Without a word, you've given them three avenues of defiance." He shakes his head. "You think pain will keep them in line. Maybe to some degree, it does. But you've given them a way of helping themselves. The schadenfreude of rebelling against a cruel master."

Korvin grabs ahold of Abbi's gag and tears it off violently. "What's your name, girl?" He croons, leaning into biting range.

Hana watches silently, not entirely sure what to make of this situation. If someone gags her in the meantime, she'll struggle against them, but bound as she is, she won't be able to stop them.

[Earl of Purple]

The Trust-Worthy Hotel

"They aren't my slaves. They're the Guild's property. It's my job to move them from the supplier to storage, that's it. Those two haven't been my responsibility for long, and the human at least struggled when the guards took her. If we hadn't bound her, she'd have run by now. She probably didn't realise she was a slave when we collected her. That one isn't gagged for what she's said, she's- oh." The 'oh' is because he's already taken the gag off, and Korvin may get a brief look at Abbi's prominent and bloodstained incisors, before she moves her head forward to try and bite his face. Her teeth are sharp and her jaw quite strong; she might be able to take his nose off.

Regardless of success or failure, there's a look of glee in Abbi's eyes, and Alecto continues. "She's an opportunist biter, that's why she's gagged. It's good advice, but these girls need to become aware of their status and to behave properly."

If Korvin gets bitten and pulls free or manages to dodge, unless the gag is returned immediately, she will answer the question. "My name is A-Eighty-Eight-Dash-First. The hotel called me Abbi, but I believe they just sold me."

Hana is gagged, and hauled to her feet before being forced back down, hopefully on her knees. They threatened to zap Abbi if she disobeys, but there's a lot going on right now- Hana might not have heard, or trust that the guards are distracted and unable to do so.

[Ironsmith]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Fortunately for Korvin, the mask he's wearing is quite effective at deflecting the bite, between its natural curvature and hardness. Unfortunately, his neck and shoulders are nowhere near as well-protected.

Though Abbi might find his non-reaction to suddenly missing a chunk of flesh a little disconcerting. Korvin tilts his head ever-so-slightly and places a hand on Abbi's shoulder.

"I see." He says curtly. "Tell me, Abbi. Did you enjoy that?" As she can't see his eyebrows, he tilts his head quizzically to imitate the expression of raising one. "It must be very satisfying, being able to hurt those who would harm you. Or your... friend." He gives a light, gurgling chuckle at this, a little spout of blood pouring from the bite wound at this juncture. "Perhaps you would care to do it again?" He holds up a gloved hand in front of her mouth. "Go on. You will not be punished for it."

Hana struggles against the grips of the orcs holding her, even as they force her into a kneeling position. She didn't know what exactly was happening here, but this certainly sounded like there'd be a rapid turnaround that wasn't going to end well for either her or Abbi. And she wasn't going to just sit still for that.

[Earl of Purple]

The Trust-Worthy Hotel

Abbi spits the mask out, unless it tastes like proper flesh anyway- then she swallows it. "No. No, it wasn't. You didn't yelp." She declines the opportunity to bite again. Earl had forgotten Korvin wore a mask, since then Abbi probably wouldn't have bitten.

"Good, she's kneeling. Right, you. Grab the hobbit, and get her up. If you are quite done, I'd like to take the rat with me. The Guild will find a buyer, even if she does bite." The halfling is physically lifted by one of the orcs who carry her out of the room, and two more grab Hana's armpits to pick her up and drag her out, too. They won't give her any chance to get her feet under her, but she might manage it anyway.

[Ironsmith]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Underneath the mask, Abbi will catch a glimpse of a piercing blue eye, and see the skin around Korvin's cheek tighten as he smiles; clearly, he was satisfied with how things had played out. "...For the moment." He croons, running a gloved finger over the fractured portion of the mask. "...Though I should like to speak to you about this one when you have a moment."

Hana will manage to get her feet under her, after which she'll struggle against the orcs holding her by her pits. "Gerrmph! Gerror mmmink mtts orrami!" She screams through the gag.

"...And her." Korvin adds. "But mostly Abbi."

[Earl of Purple]

The Trust-Worthy Hotel

"We can do that as we go to the depot, unless you have urgent business with Mister Trust, here? I have kept him awake long enough, I think, and should leave him to go to bed." She nods at some of the orcs, and they grab Abbi and drag her out as well, with Alecto following.

Hana is dragged after the halfling to a set of stairs, where her ankles are grabbed and she's carried up. If she's still struggling, at the top the orcs will swing her a few times, holding her by armpit and ankle, threatening to throw her down the stairs, but they won't. If they did, they'd get in trouble. Instead, when they're bored, they'll take her through the door at the top of the stairs and throw her in a wheeled cage, pulled behind a quad bike. Already in the cage is a ragged half-elf, looking to be shy of twenty, wearing ragged old clothes, another naked human who looks to be slightly older than Abbi, and a much younger grimlock with no hair and very pale flesh. All of them are girls, and are bound like Hana is (though maybe not with shredders, and they aren't gagged either). The halfling is also thrown in, and Abbi when she arrives. There's another cage and quad, but this contains male slaves. Alecto climbs on the quad pulling the girls, whilst Jasper mounts the one pulling the boys. "You go ahead, Jasper. Take some of the guards. I've got to wait for Korvin, he wants to talk to me about them." Jasper nods and starts his engine; he might have left wiht some guards before Korvin has finished, if he has business with Mister Trust.

[Ironsmith]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Hana struggles the whole way, of course, and both she and her captors are likely to have some fresh bruises when they arrive at the cages, but she won't manage to get free. Without Alecto threatening harm on Abbi again, she has no compunctions about giving the grunts a set of black eyes.

Korvin sighs and slips off his mask as he goes to speak with Alecto; the outer porcelain layer of it, anyway. He has another half-mask on underneath that's effectively a cup over his mouth and nose. Without the mask, Korvin is a pale man with a youthful face, blonde, neatly-combed hair and cold blue eyes, as well as a fresh, conspicuous rat bite on his cheek. "Fiesty one, isn't she?" He smirks, producing a green bottle from his robes and rubbing some of the ointment therein on Abbi's bite. "I'm sure you remember my saying I've been waiting for just such a person. Something to show the High Masters the merits of my work. I dare say our rat is just the visible case I need." He chuckles darkly and tosses the now-broken porcelain to the ground, crushing it under his boot for good measure. "I was hoping I could talk you into letting me field this one. And the human, while I'm at it. As it stands, they seem to be something of a package deal." He produces a spare porcelain mask from under his robes and slides it on, looking for all the world like Abbi hadn't managed to even inconvenience him.

[Reinholdt]

[Misty Velvet]

Rose collects a smattering of half-hearted slow claps from the drunkest of the club goers and even that tapers off rapidly. Hardly rousing applause. Most of the people who were here when they arrived have slunk out by now in search of... livelier clubs. They may have chosen not to start a fight, but that doesn't mean their night wasn't crashed.

And the rest? Weren't getting pulled into Rose's energy. The song the Evil Overlady was dancing to was fun and it was casual. It was not, however, impressive for those same reasons. The dance's biggest draw lay in its accessibility and it was that same positive quality that came with a drawback. Namely being that the only way the dance would gather the attention Rose wanted would require there to be a lot less clothes and a round of drinks on her. But the club itself seemed to be picking back up as a few of the bravest souls have joined in on the fun.

Raven herself seems nonplussed about it all. She tilts her head up to pretend she doesn't care and isn't scanning the patrons to see who clapped. If she could be bothered to remember these peons' faces, she may spare them one day. Although, that sounds like effort.

"Ah, that was... fun," Raven says in a more deadpan voice than intended.

[Searching for Truth]

Ilpholin laughs a little. "I don't think it's for the reason you're thinking. Adir's a one woman pony." Shameful really.

"How recognizable is your hawk form? We're on a flying city. They have to see much more than their fair share of birds all the time, right? Unless you're stripped purple or something, I think you should be ok." A purple hawk would be a sight indeed.

[Shadowcaller]

[Searching for Truth]

"A one woman deer." Anika corrects with a smirk.
"But, uh, I'm really big and red-ish in my hawk form? I mean, I obviously don't look like a normal hawk. Though all birds kinda look the same if you're high enough up in the air."

[Reinholdt]

[Searching for Truth]

Ilpholin rolls her eyes playfully.

"Not going to lie... I don't have any idea what a normal hawk even looks like. I just know it has... talons and a beak." Ilpholin shrugs. If Anika could fool Ilpholin, she could fool these workers!

Who presumably didn't live in a cave most of their lives.

"If anyone recognizes you, I'll just sucker punch them before they can do anything about it." Ilpholin's pretty confident Anika will be fine with enough height.

[Ironsmith]

[Misty Velvet]

Come on, work with me, people. Rose thinks to herself, at the underwhelming applause. Ugh, it was like these people wanted to be conquered by a socially ostracized nekomancer with daddy issues. Not wanting to let the effort go entirely to waste, she latches onto the few who did clap, pointing them out explicitly to both Raven and the other clubgoers as examples. "See? That guy gets it." She grins, clapping herself in an effort to kindle a little more applause.

When that probably doesn't work, she gives a little sigh and turns her attention back to Raven. "...Huh." She begins, leaning in a little. "You've... you had something on your face. Right around here..." She points to one of her own cheeks, "...and here." She points to the other one and giggles a little. "Now, I'm not an expert, but... I think they call that a 'smile'. It looks good on you."

Very good, apparently. Aside from light amusement at her own joke, that look in her eyes definitely snuck in from the bedroom. That may or may not have been from Raven herself; the lyrics to the song they were dancing to were pretty raunchy, much more explicitly so now that they were getting the translated version. That, combined with how she already seemed to feel about Raven, might make a compelling case for them to go home and check out the other album Rose had brought her.

The other album.

It occurs to Rose now that she didn't actually see everything the zombie had given to the DJ. He recieved the Deicide album, obviously. And her one-song CD. But now that they'd worked through them both, he would be running low on music they'd brought, and if he just defaulted to whatever was left...

Yeah, she should probably double-check.

[Reinholdt]

[Misty Velvet]

"WHOOO!" Goes that one guy who gets it.

No one joins him.

"I-I know what a smile is!" Raven huffs with a blush, puffing up her cheeks in a pout as she looks away and crosses her arms, eyes glancing back and forth from Rose to that interesting spot on the wall. Rose is being entirely too silly! Harrumph!

Rose is just barely in time to catch the DJ as he is putting the Deathkiss disc in. If she doesn't react quickly enough though, he's going to press that play button. Surely she won't choke at this integral moment. Or she might, because that one guy who gets it is headed her way to compliment her on her moves AND brazenly ask her out. He needs to slow down on the drinking when there are so many zombies around! It might end up poorly for him. She'll have to think quick to avoid all these social faux pas.

[Ironsmith]

[Misty Velvet]

Rose nearly body-checks the guy, but stops short at the realization that running over the one person in the club who seemed to be willing to help her might not be the best idea. Or a good look, for that matter. "Listen, that's sweet and all, but I'm already here on a date. You know, with the scary lady everyone's treating like she carries bubonic plague." Wait, maybe she did? She does work with corpses all day. "Point being, thanks, but no thanks, at least now, and I've got to-"

"OOOOOOOAAAAAHHHH♡"

Rose reddens, runs up to the DJ's turntable, and brings her fist down on the eject button. "Sorryguyyouweren'tmeanttogetthatoneourportermadea mistakepleasegobacktowhateveryouwereplayingearlier kaythanks." She rambles.

[Earl of Purple]

Leaving the Trust-Worthy Hotel

Well, Alecto might chat with Korvin in the corridors, but she wants to go with the slaves to the wagons she's got. She's one of the drivers, and her boyfriend's the other- Jasper's gone ahead. "They came as a pair. They don't have to stay that way. But... the Guild has rules on sales. We'll get them all to the warehouse, sort the ones I brought with me to sell from the others, and give all the new slaves a health check. The human we got-" Alecto looks at some paperwork she's been given, transcripts of conversation that might provide clues to Hana's technology- "Anna, it says here. She came with some tech, we'll have our mnemomancers try to figure out how it works. They'll have a look at the rat's mind too, make sure she doesn't know anything. She probably doesn't, but maybe she does, and she's calmer than Anna and probably easier for the mind-suckers." She thinks a moment. "If you come with us to the warehouse, I can see about getting them assessed quickly, sign 'em off as healthy- hopefully, anyway- and you can buy them direct. If they aren't healthy enough, you'll have to negotiate with someone higher up the food chain than I am to buy. We don't sell diseased or unhealthy stock; it reflects badly on us if the product we sell dies of neglect within half an hour of getting home." There's usually a week's guarantee, if they die in that time and you produce the body and there's no signs of violence, there's a refund or a replacement.

[Ironsmith]

[Leaving the Trust-Worthy Hotel]

"I was referring to your method if disciplining them." Korvin replies flatly. "As it stands, Miss R- Anna only responds to threats of harm to this 'Abbi'. Separate them and you lose even that method of control. And I wouldn't dream of denying the Guild a salable asset if it could be helped." He chuckles darkly under his mask. "I have no interest in owning either of them. More... preparing them in mind, as your doctors intend to do in body."

Meanwhile, in the cage, Hana is looking around nervously, recoiling away from her cagemates and into a corner. She didn't do well in enclosed spaces already, and being crammed into a cage with other people wasn't exactly alleviating that particular phobia.

[Earl of Purple]

Slaver's Guild Acquisitions Route

"Doesn't matter. I've threatened the rat because I thought it'd work. Now I know it does, I know Anna's sympathetic. That makes things easier. Just need to find someone else to threaten to punish if she misbehaves. Store her near somebody likeable, or another rat, that would remind her of A-Eighty-Eight. Or a child, if all else fails." Alecto knows the Guild doesn't trade in children (with the possible exception of the Skyside Orphanage for Unwanted Children, which is officially not part of the Guild but nobody believes that) but the Guild's definition of 'child' doesn't match that of a lot of other people. "Besides, these are my methods. Once she's in the warehouse, she's not my problem any more. They'll keep her in a box, make sure she's healthy, with no diseases, correct her diet if she's malnourished, provide her with maybe an exercise machine to keep her fit, then given her dots probably sell her to the studio. They always want pretty gladiators to bleed on screen. If you want to demonstrate on them, convince the warehouse manager it'll be worthwhile. They're a High Master too. If you impress enough, the Guildmasters might offer you a position as Low Master." Alecto, despite her youth, is a High Master. Partly this is nepotism; her father's a High Master. Partly this is because she grew up in the Guild, and started her apprenticeship young. Partly this is recognition; after her father's maiming, she took over managing his shop and improving its security.

The eyeless grimlock sniffs at Hana and Abbi, before raising her head and eavesdropping on Alecto and Korvin's conversation. Abbi will sit next to Hana. "Claustrophobic, mi-Hana? Turn around, face the side. There we go, look. You're not in a wagon, you're looking through a window. Things are bad right now, and Abbi can't promise or reassure you they'll get better. Abbi's done this before. Ab-I am sorry, Hana. We're going to a warehouse, where we will be sorted and moved. There may be more stops on the way, there's... It's cramped, but there's space still. They could fit twice as many people in here as are in it already. We'll get a cell to ourselves, they'll have a pair of wizards come around. Both will try to touch you. One is a healer, who will assess our health. The other I'm not so sure on. They'll keep us there until we're healthy, so for you that won't be any time at all- I'm sure of it." It might not be; Hana may be stored for a while, if the healers think the fact she's been relying on medigel to keep healthy means her immune system can't cope with wild germs.

[Ironsmith]

[Slavers' Guild Acquisition Route]

There might be truth to that assumption; with as widespread as medigel use is on Hana's world, a number of human-compatible bacteria have simply gone extinct. If they exist here, she could be in trouble.

Hana does as Abbi says and faces the side of the cage, but even looking out as she is, she can't escape the feeling that she's in a very, very small container. She closes her eyes and takes a deep, shuddering sigh, preferring light motion sickness from the transport bumping along the road to the irrationally terrifying sight of the cage walls around her. "...This is my fault, somehow, isn't it?" She asks. "I got their attention when I should have been laying low. Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She growls to herself. If she'd been more discrete, settled for a lesser room, didn't make such a show by showering Abbi in the luxuries of her time, she wouldn't be sitting naked in a cage, shunted around like cargo and probably eventually sold to some creep.


Korvin nods. "...Forgive me. I'm still getting used to the ins and outs of how you do things around here. This is nothing like the church of Astheneia. But then, they are in another business entirely." He chuckles, making no bones about how corrupt the "church" is. "Although, while we're on the subject of how much I have yet to learn, I am curious... exactly what is the significance of the dot system? A statement of quality, perhaps?"

[Earl of Purple]

Slaver's Guild Acquisitions Route

They've learnt that from the transhumans they get from Doctor Master. They arrive with compromised immune systems because the alterations occur in environmentally-controlled vats of healing solution; not quite medigel, but not too far off, different focus mainly. The process takes a while, longer than Fifi or Abbi knows, due to the gel and Doctor Master's memory-tech, which means when they come out their immune system hasn't encountered a germ for a long while.

"Not quality, threat. Five dots for humanoid slaves that don't demonstrate magic or supernatural powers. Green dots are best, docile and content with their station, unlikely to fight or try to escape. Orange is middling; docile, but waiting for an opportunity. Halflings automatically get at least one orange dot; they're nigh-fearless and we automatically put them in shredders. They're too likely to slip out of anything else. Red is high risk of fighting and escape attempts. The dots then appear in colour order of behaviour. The rat was good, until the orcs lowered their guard and she bit. One orange, she's an opportunist who is willing to take risks. Red because she bites hard and drew blood, twice. But once bound, she stopped fighting, so the green dots remain so. Anna has five red dots because she's been zapped, bound, kicked, and she still fights every chance she gets. She dislocated a thumb to get out of zipties, so she's in a shredder. Even outnumbered, naked, and bound in shredders, she kept fighting and is wilfully disobedient every chance she gets. If you can make her obedient, you're certainly in at Low Master level and maybe even High Master. I'd make recommendation for the latter to the Guildmasters, since I'm tempted to have her given another red dot- but that would mean she's got dangerous low-level supernatural powers, make her probably ineligible for gladiatorhood, and make her nearly unsellable." And Earl made it up on the spot, so it may change as he thinks about it.

[Reinholdt]

[Misty Velvet]

A good half of the club is looking at Rose like she was the one who just put that track on. Including Raven, though she's not staring like the others.
She's snickering.

This is, apparently funny.

Less so to the DJ who gives an exasperated sigh. This is why they hired him in the first place! To play the tunes he picked out that wouldn't sound like a woman dying in more ways than one. He half glares at Rose despite her intercession and then swaps back to the music that was first playing when they got here.

Raven tsks a little as Rose returns, struggling not to laugh out loud at her. "Well, party's dead I guess. Wanna bounce?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Searching for Truth]

Ilpholin rolls her eyes playfully.

"Not going to lie... I don't have any idea what a normal hawk even looks like. I just know it has... talons and a beak." Ilpholin shrugs. If Anika could fool Ilpholin, she could fool these workers!

Who presumably didn't live in a cave most of their lives.

"If anyone recognizes you, I'll just sucker punch them before they can do anything about it." Ilpholin's pretty confident Anika will be fine with enough height.

[Searching for Truth]

The druid chuckles. "Sounds good, let's go then!"

And so, in a emerald green cloud, Anika becomes a huge hawk. Not much smaller than a person and with its huge wingspan it could easily be mistaken for being larger than one.
Apparently the druid doesn't do 'small'.

Then she takes flight, soon becoming nothing more than a black spot in the sky as she intentionally flies right in front of the sun so it'd be hard to look straight at her.

---

So how is Ilpholin approaching this?

There's two entrances in the tall fence. One is intended for vehicles and the other intended for people. Both are under camera surveillance, there are signs that say so, and you would either need to climb over the fence or perhaps attempt to either steal a card or hack the console.

[Ironsmith]

Slaver's Guild Acquisitions Route

They've learnt that from the transhumans they get from Doctor Master. They arrive with compromised immune systems because the alterations occur in environmentally-controlled vats of healing solution; not quite medigel, but not too far off, different focus mainly. The process takes a while, longer than Fifi or Abbi knows, due to the gel and Doctor Master's memory-tech, which means when they come out their immune system hasn't encountered a germ for a long while.

"Not quality, threat. Five dots for humanoid slaves that don't demonstrate magic or supernatural powers. Green dots are best, docile and content with their station, unlikely to fight or try to escape. Orange is middling; docile, but waiting for an opportunity. Halflings automatically get at least one orange dot; they're nigh-fearless and we automatically put them in shredders. They're too likely to slip out of anything else. Red is high risk of fighting and escape attempts. The dots then appear in colour order of behaviour. The rat was good, until the orcs lowered their guard and she bit. One orange, she's an opportunist who is willing to take risks. Red because she bites hard and drew blood, twice. But once bound, she stopped fighting, so the green dots remain so. Anna has five red dots because she's been zapped, bound, kicked, and she still fights every chance she gets. She dislocated a thumb to get out of zipties, so she's in a shredder. Even outnumbered, naked, and bound in shredders, she kept fighting and is wilfully disobedient every chance she gets. If you can make her obedient, you're certainly in at Low Master level and maybe even High Master. I'd make recommendation for the latter to the Guildmasters, since I'm tempted to have her given another red dot- but that would mean she's got dangerous low-level supernatural powers, make her probably ineligible for gladiatorhood, and make her nearly unsellable." And Earl made it up on the spot, so it may change as he thinks about it.

[Slavers' Guild Acquisition Route]

"So. Either I manage to secure her obedience, or we have something to pass on to the church's cadaver collection." Korvin strokes the beak of his mask plaintively, chuckling through the porcelain. "Don't you just love a win-win situation?"

Hana, meanwhile, has gone back to trying to struggle her way out of shredders. She knew they would tear up her hands- she didn't care anymore. Being bound and in a cage was simply too much for her. By the time the caravan arrives, she'll likely have them off, with the obvious, gruesome caveat, if nobody intervenes.

[Misty Velvet]

A good half of the club is looking at Rose like she was the one who just put that track on. Including Raven, though she's not staring like the others.
She's snickering.

This is, apparently funny.

Less so to the DJ who gives an exasperated sigh. This is why they hired him in the first place! To play the tunes he picked out that wouldn't sound like a woman dying in more ways than one. He half glares at Rose despite her intercession and then swaps back to the music that was first playing when they got here.

Raven tsks a little as Rose returns, struggling not to laugh out loud at her. "Well, party's dead I guess. Wanna bounce?"

[Misty Velvet]

Rose stiffens a little at the DJ's glare, but gives him an apologetic smile. "Okay. Now that that's all sorted..." She plinks a few of those high-value coins onto the turntable, just a short distance from the controls. "...Thanks for being such a sport about all of this." She steps back and gives him a finger-waggling wave. "Have a good night!" She giggles, CDs under her arm.

Then, it's back to Raven. Seeing her date struggling not to laugh, Rose gives her a mildly amused smirk, indicating she wasn't as embarrassed by this whole episode as she seemed to be at first. "Yeah, looks like it. Though to be fair, we did bring half the deadness with us." She jokes, gesturing toward the zombies. "So, yeah. Where we going? Back to your place?" She asks hopefully.

[Earl of Purple]

Slaver's Guild Acquisitions Route

There's a couple guards, as well, but before they notice, Abbi's going to try and stop her. "Calm down, Hana. It's good, I'm here, look. Be strong, Hana. Ooh, this... what do I do?" The ratgirl's panicking, and Hana's likely to start causing some damage before Abbi turns around and grabs Hana's hands with her own. If Hana continues to struggle, she'll start to pull Abbi's own fingers into the shredder- and Abbi isn't letting go.

"It does sound good for you. But no. I won't give her another red dot. She's one of the most dangerous naked people I've met, but she has no supernatural powers. The studio will want her, soon as they can get her. She'd be a very successful gladiator." So she deserves all the red dots she's got, but Hana doesn't have the ability- at the moment- to get another. If she started setting stuff on fire with her mind, or demonstrated enhanced healing so the shredders won't stay on, then maybe Hana would get another dot.

[Ironsmith]

[Slavers' Guild Acquisition Route]

"A shame." Korvin sighs. "Oh, well. There will always be other slaves."

That was depressingly true.

Hana nods, but still can't calm down. She refrains from pulling her hands through her shredders for fear of hurting Abbi, but her hyperventilating and shaking makes it clear she's still extremely anxious about this whole situation. She can't seem to sit still, her shoulders are all bunched up, and she seems ten seconds away from curling into a ball and crying.

"....Although." Korvin turns his head toward the cage. "...I dare say we have another method of control handy."

[Earl of Purple]

Slaver's Guild Acquisition Route

"I'm driving, unfortunately. Hang on." They aren't going very fast, but Alecto is cautious anyway. She'll throw a glance back. "She's claustrophobic? Nice. That'll make things easier. We've got a stop just ahead, a gang of muggers who sell their victims if they can subdue them. The Angry Alleyway Mob, they're called. If they stop you, flash your discount card. You got one of those? I need to set you up with one otherwise." They're quite large for that purpose, identifying someone as a member- or closely affiliated- to the Guild.

"Come on, Hana. You can do this, you're strong. Oh, I wish I could give you that massage. Never managed that, did I? You went to sleep in the bath before I could." Abbi's going to keep talking to try and reassure Hana even as they slow down ready for the meeting.

[Reinholdt]

[Misty Velvet]

There's no hurt feelings that money won't soothe. Rose may even be welcome back here if she wants.

"Oh please," Raven replies. "If anything we livened the place up. Without us, it'll return to being the morbid cesspool it was born as." Raven waves her hand back over her shoulder when she steps out of the club as if saying goodbye to her dying grandparents and telling them to hurry up.

Within moments she's back seated properly in her palanquin. "Yeah, my place would be best. I gotta send all of my royal guard back to work." Someone has to spraypaint cars black and that someone happens to be undead.

[Searching for Truth]

"I'll be ducking into a shop and coming out a construction worker. Keep your eyes open," Ilpholin tells Anika as she begins to soar off.

Indeed, that's the first step. Ducking into a donut shop. Using their bathroom for privacy. Coming out of it just slightly taller, leaner, and with definitely more defined muscles. Those are visible from the sky. Her hair's been shortened significantly and it's almost hard to tell she's a brunette under that hard hat. The reflexive orange vest is standard and the rest of her clothes match what passing glimpse she got of the workers previously. To top it all off, she buys a bag of donuts and six coffees that she juggles on her way to the fence. Hopefully she hasn't lost Anika, but Ilpholin's glances upwards just get her sun and she doesn't want to turn on her flare adjusters or the moving mechanical parts in her blue eyes might give her away. She'll just have to trust the druid's perceptive skills.

In the meantime, she'll head for the fence area intended for people. The idea is to look like she works here and look like she's carrying too much so someone will get the door for her. Especially if they want the foreman to get their coffee!

[Ironsmith]

Slaver's Guild Acquisition Route

"I'm driving, unfortunately. Hang on." They aren't going very fast, but Alecto is cautious anyway. She'll throw a glance back. "She's claustrophobic? Nice. That'll make things easier. We've got a stop just ahead, a gang of muggers who sell their victims if they can subdue them. The Angry Alleyway Mob, they're called. If they stop you, flash your discount card. You got one of those? I need to set you up with one otherwise." They're quite large for that purpose, identifying someone as a member- or closely affiliated- to the Guild.

"Come on, Hana. You can do this, you're strong. Oh, I wish I could give you that massage. Never managed that, did I? You went to sleep in the bath before I could." Abbi's going to keep talking to try and reassure Hana even as they slow down ready for the meeting.

[Slavers' Guild Acquisition Route]

"I seem to have left it in my other set of robes." Korvin replies with a shrug. "Not to worry. I'm certain they'll know better than to try anything foolish."

Hana closes her eyes and nods shakily, managing a little smile as she gasps out a reply. "Ha... yeah, that's right... I missed out on that, didn't I? I'm sure you gave the best massages." She sniffles. "Oh, great. And I don't have any way of wiping my eyes. If I wore mascara, this would look awful..."

[Misty Velvet]

There's no hurt feelings that money won't soothe. Rose may even be welcome back here if she wants.

"Oh please," Raven replies. "If anything we livened the place up. Without us, it'll return to being the morbid cesspool it was born as." Raven waves her hand back over her shoulder when she steps out of the club as if saying goodbye to her dying grandparents and telling them to hurry up.

Within moments she's back seated properly in her palanquin. "Yeah, my place would be best. I gotta send all of my royal guard back to work." Someone has to spraypaint cars black and that someone happens to be undead.

[Misty Velvet => Black Abyss Body Shop]

"Hm." Rose gives Raven a playful nudge. "You say such mean things about it, but what I heard was 'we should go back and liven it up again sometime.'" She giggles.

Not that that would be ideal. Again, setting a place to meet that wasn't Raven's carried some risk. Fortunately, it worked out this time. Now all that was left was going back to her shop. Though Rose did have to wonder what they were going to do when they got there. Raven made it sound like she wanted Rose to come, too. Were they just going to hang out? Was she going to have to "play nurse"? Ooh, did that last song affect Raven more than she would admit? Was Rose going to have to stay the night?

All questions to be answered on arrival! For now, she had something more salient on her mind.

"You know, I never caught your name." She says to the zombie that would probably end up carrying her. "Is it Dave? I'm getting a 'Dave' sort of vibe from you. Or possibly Diana. It's hard to tell at this stage of decomposition."

[Lord Magtok]

Aimless Drifting

Spoiler

Show

[Aimless Drifting]

The hoodie-woman, hiding around the corner, finishes up with what she was doing. With her watch opened and unscrewed, she presses some buttons on a half-there holographic display. A roll of tape suddenly appears in her hand, and she uses that to wrap the watch closed with all its screws.
By now, she's figured that she didn't lose the robot, it just got distracted by someone else.
Given this chance, she needs to take it out here - the robot's goals are diametrically opposed to hers and she needs to take advantage of this chance.

So she starts climbing the building next to her, up to an elevated position. Once she has a hand free, she starts typing more on the glitchy holographic display, and a pink wand appears this time. Sirena, the woman in the hoodie, hooks a foot above her on a storm drain, and her other leg curls up on a window sill, and she affixes the wand in air like a scope, and then does some more with the hologram...



Tetra's clever method of destroying the electro-sticky-goop works.
Simply producing heat that way doesn't activate another shock...and the shocking device, created in the moment, wasn't exactly designed to withstand that sort of stuff. And, disconnected from the panther, it doesn't even have the capability to adapt to Tetra.

The robo-mole, recognizing that the sticky grenade will fail soon (and it wasn't supplied with any more to fire again) decides its best move is as a suicide-attack-distraction.

The robo-mole activates its drill again, and starts running at Tetra, intending to cause as much damage to her foot as possible.


meanwhile, the main robot, the panther.
The panther. It replies, [COLOR="#888888"]"Your excuses are not convincing. Surrender at once or -"
Sadly, the panther is unable to finish its threat, as its neck (and head and most of its sensory devices) are blown off, with pink hearts instead of smoke or debris coming off of it. The shot came from the hoodie-woman, down the street hanging from the side of a building.
(However, simply destroying the head of this robot isn't enough to incapacitate it. It starts whirring and clanking, as its internal factory starts running again, this time trying to restore its sensory input.

So....
At the moment, Tetra really only has to worry about the drill-mole.
And possibly the heart(?) sniper(?) gal down the street.

With the goo sorted out, there's really nothing at all holding Tetra back anymore. She can just crush the mole like the irritating little pest that it is. Just warp herself back a few feet, and then reach out with both hands to ensnare the mole and squeeze. Crush its bones between her fingers, let it wail the familiar melody of the lost and the dying, the song the entire world will sing once the stars align and scripture is fulfilled. A rain of sticky pink blood, an endless tide of disease-bearing toads, lice and locusts and a cancerous masses large enough to blot out the sun. Your livestock and your wheat fields and your firstborns and-

Tetra's eyes stop glowing, and her hands stop trying to force the drill-mole to collapse in on itself. Something...unsettling washed over her for a minute there. What was that? Some incredibly strange and angry thoughts entered her head, but now that they've past, she can't recall what any of them actually were. This would be very distressing if Tetra had any frame of reference for it, but she doesn't, and there's a strange pink sniper woman in the area, so that takes priority.

"Hello? Thank you for helping. I don't know why you did, but everything should be fine now," she calls out uncertainly, not sure if the person or persons responsible are even here or within earshot. Still, it wouldn't hurt to learn the face of our allies, to try to find some kind of pattern or unifying trait between the Riverside girl and the sniper. If there's a certain physical or emotional attribute that compels people to help her, it would be a good idea to learn it now, so she can exploit it when He calls upon her to fulfill her holy purpose understand the difference between friends and foes and treat them accordingly.

[Earl of Purple]

Slaver's Guild Acquisitions Route

"I don't doubt it. They're good suppliers, though, and they have a hydroponic strawberry farm. I love strawberries. I can't make you carry it, but it'll get you out of a lot of trouble." And completely fail at getting him out of a lot of other trouble, though if he's being searched by MERC or shot at by Klaus then chances are his association with the Guild is already known.

"I do! I do, it's true. Everyone at the hotel said mine were best. Staff, guests, even Countess Worthy. Mister Trust didn't like massages, never gave him one." He had a few more pressing issues than stress-knots in the shoulders or whatever. Earl knows little about massages. "Sounds to me that you're lucky you weren't wearing any."

They arrive at the alleyway inhabited by the Angry Alley Mob, or possibly one of many; it doesn't look big enough to have a hydroponic strawberry farm. It's dark, with no lighting, and there's at least three Mobsters visible- more are hiding in the shadows. The three that are visible are androgynous humans, wearing night-vision goggles and dark purple zoot suits. They've all shaved their heads. The leader is an androgynous figure holding a FIAT Mod. 1915, modified so both barrels can be fired from a single trigger; their head has been tattooed with glow-in-the-dark swirls and whorls. The other two have holstered pistols; one holds a baseball bat covered in Vantablack and the other carries a sawn-off shotgun. Kneeling in front of them are five people in their underwear; three men and two women.

If Korvin can see in the dark, there's eight more Mobsters in the alleyway, three with Vantablack bats, two with silenced rifles and the rest have double-crossbows.